Publications by authors named "Mario Severino"

Disrupted gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) neurotransmission may contribute to the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. Reductions in hippocampal GABAergic neurons have been found in schizophrenia, and increased hippocampal perfusion has been described in schizophrenia and in people at clinical high-risk for psychosis (CHRp). We have also found decreases in hippocampal GABA receptors containing the α5 subunit (GABARα5) in a well-validated neurodevelopmental rat model of relevance for schizophrenia.

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Positron emission tomography (PET) and single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) are essential molecular imaging tools for the in vivo investigation of neurotransmission. Traditionally, PET and SPECT images are analysed in a univariate manner, testing for changes in radiotracer binding in regions or voxels of interest independently of each other. Over the past decade, there has been an increasing interest in the so-calledapproach that captures relationships of molecular imaging measures in different brain regions.

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Greater understanding of individual biological differences is essential for developing more targeted treatment approaches to complex brain disorders. Traditional analysis methods in molecular imaging studies have primarily focused on quantifying tracer binding in specific brain regions, often neglecting inter-regional functional relationships. In this study, we propose a statistical framework that combines molecular imaging data with perturbation covariance analysis to construct single-subject networks and investigate individual patterns of molecular alterations.

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